My husband doesn't hesitate taking a turn in the kitchen. Whenever we have fish, he always cooks it. He will usually cook anything we eat from the BBQ grill. He also will fix things he likes that he thinks I might not want to prepare.
He first bought a prepared salad from our neighborhood HyVee Supermarket. He liked it so much he decided he was going to try to make his own. He researched and found several recipes online and after his second attempt (he was sorta blending the different recipes), came up with his own version of a recipe.
He really likes it. I honestly haven't eaten because I don't do raw onions, but I trust him if he says it is good. He recently gave some of it to our younger son and he ate it with chips like a dip.
CAULIFLOWER - BROCCOLI SALAD
1 head cauliflower
1 head broccoli
2-3 stalks celery
3/4 medium red onion
2 cups mayo
2/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons Old Bay seafood seasoning
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
12-14 strips of bacon
Break up florets of cauliflower
and cauliflower. Cut into small pieces
Chop onion and celery into small pieces
Fry bacon until crispy and break into bacon bits.
Combine cauliflower, broccoli, onion, celery, and bacon bits.
Mix thoroughly. (A pasta fork works great doing this.)
(He started in a large bowl and had to change to a big bowl.)
Mix dressing in separate bowl: Combine mayo, sugar, vinegar, seafood seasoning, and Dijon mustard til creamy.
Toss into the other ingredients in the big bowl.
After thoroughly mixed, add Parmesan cheese and sunflower seeds. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Chill and serve.
Other suggested add - ins: craisins, crushed pineapples, raisins, chopped nuts, sliced almonds
I don't think I have ever made a chowder before. I make soup, but it is usually a vegetable beef (that contains everything but the kitchen sink - no exact recipe) or a chicken/turkey noodle soup. My husband loves clam chowder and will usually get at least a cup of it, if it is on the menu. Thinking about it, I don't think I have ever even eaten a chowder before.
This recipe from Ella Miller from Fresno, OH is in Wanda E. Brunstetter's The Best of Amish Friends Cookbook Collection cookbook I have. On the next page is a Hearty Chicken 'n' Rice Soup from Judith Martin of Millmont, PA. I am going to be trying that one probably next week. There is a picture of it and it looks good.
I thought the chowder was really good. My husband who likes spicy food wanted to add some seasonings to it, but he didn't. He said it was a good chowder to start with.
CHICKEN CHOWDER
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1-1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken (I used the whole chicken breast which meant I had a little bit more than that.)
1-1/2 cups diced carrots
1-1/2 cups diced raw potatoes
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups water
3 tablespoons flour
2-1/2 cups milk
Melt butter in 3 - quart saucepan. Add onions and saute until tender. Add chicken, carrots, potatoes, bouillon cubes, salt, pepper, and water.
Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender.
Combine flour and 1/2 cup of milk in a jar or container with a top so you can shake it until blended.
Add to vegetables along with remaining 2 cups milk.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly,
until mixture thickens.
Serve warm. Liquid will thicken more as it cools a little.
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Even though fall is still a month away, when I saw Lia Wilson's Apple Crumb Cake in her Quick Fixes with Mixes cookbook, I knew it would be perfect for the volunteers at Hillcrest Thrift Shop. If you have visited my blog before, you know I don't think twice about changing a recipe and making it more my own. That is exactly what I did with this one.
Well, the volunteers did love it. (I've made enough treats for them, I think I know what they like - which is everything if I am honest, but I like to think I know them well.) I told them how I had changed the recipe from Lia's yellow cake mix and Donna said, "I bet a carrot cake cake mix would taste good." You know, I agree with Donna.
SPICY APPLE CRUMB CAKE
1 spice cake mix (a carrot cake cake mix would be good)
1 20 ounce can apple pie filling (I used a no-sugar-added apple pie filling)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan.
Prepare cake mix as directed on package, except substitute milk for the water (for better consistency).
Pour batter into pan.
Drop pie filling by spoonfuls evenly over cake batter. Do Not Stir.
Using a knife I cut the apple slices into smaller pieces in the can.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir until blended.
Add butter and stir to combine. Add nuts.
Sprinkle over cake batter and apples.
Bake 1 hour.
Cool and drizzle with powdered sugar icing.
POWDERED SUGAR ICING
1 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
4 teaspoons warm water
In small bowl, stir water into powdered sugar until mixture is smooth.
The apple pie filling does settle on the bottom with the brown sugar mixture throughout. By cutting up the apple slices first, it gives a good coverage or base however you want to think about it.
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This is the third recipe I have shared this week from Aunt Bee's Mayberry Cookbook by Ken Beck and Jim Clark.
I have so many cookbooks because I can get them at such good prices at estate sales. (I plan to go through some of them and see if I can sell them at a garage sale this fall.) What usually happens is I look through a cookbook when I get it and mark the recipes that look interesting. The problem is with so many cookbooks I then forget what I marked. To help, I decided that I would focus on a cookbook and just go on and make interesting looking recipes over the next week. I still have a few more to make from this cookbook.
These cookies are a really good recipe (attributed to Harvey Bullock, a writer from The Andy Griffith Show) for those bananas you might have ripening. It took almost 3 of my bananas to make the cup because they were smaller than I usually buy. I reduced the sugar calories by using truvia brown sugar baking blend. I had to buy some granola when I went to the store. I was surprised at all of the different varieties of granola to chose from. You can certainly change the taste of the cookies by the granola that you use in the recipe.
My grandchildren really liked them.
BARNEY'S BANANA GRANOLA COOKIES
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened or at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (I used 1/2 cup truvia brown sugar baking blend)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed bananas
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granola
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed til smooth.
Add the egg, vanilla, and bananas, beating until well blended.
Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt
(that you have combined first) and mix until blended.
Stir in the granola.
Drop onto cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. (I used my cookie scoop.)
Bake for 12 minutes.
Remove and cool on wire rack.
Store in cookie jar. (A slice of bread in the jar will keep the cookies soft.)
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Aunt Bee's Mayberry Cookbook says this meat loaf (called Flora's Meat Loaf Mallerby) is a favorite down at the Diner. The recipe was attributed to Bobbie Carson from Nashville, TN. After making it, I would not be surprised that it wasn't a favorite at the Diner.
I don't eat meatloaf like my husband does (if it's on the menu, he usually orders it), but I do enjoy it when I make it. This one I especially enjoyed and so did my husband. I changed the cooking instructions because I was baking it at the same time with Old Man Schwump's Scalloped Potatoes. The potatoes had to bake at 375 degrees and the meatloaf at 350 degrees. I decided the extra 25 degrees would be okay and I was right. (Seems like so often when I bake meatloaf, I end up baking it longer than suggested for the meat to get done.)
FLORA'S MEAT LOAF MALLERBY
1 lb ground beef
Dash celery seed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup catsup
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, celery seed, onion, milk, bread crumbs, egg, and Worcestershire sauce.
Stir til well mixed.
Shape into a ball and place in a baking pan.
Combine the brown sugar and catsup, and
spread over the top of the meat loaf.
(Let it run down the sides on its own.)
Bake for 45 minutes.
Serves 4.
These scalloped potatoes were great with the meatloaf (from the same cookbook).
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Break up florets of cauliflower 
and cauliflower. Cut into small pieces
Chop onion and celery into small pieces
Fry bacon until crispy and break into bacon bits.
Combine cauliflower, broccoli, onion, celery, and bacon bits. 
Mix thoroughly. (A pasta fork works great doing this.)
(He started in a large bowl and had to change to a big bowl.)
Mix dressing in separate bowl: Combine mayo, sugar, vinegar, seafood seasoning, and Dijon mustard til creamy.
Toss into the other ingredients in the big bowl.
